Installing TTI's Dual Exhaust Pipes - A Nice Pair

Remember when you got your first Mopar? Chances are it wasn't a Six-Pack equipped Road Runner or Hemi 'Cuda, but rather a Charger, Satellite, or Dart with a 318 or similar low-performance engine and single exhaust. But even though our first cars didn't necessarily have a hot engine from the factory, we could still get the look and sound of a healthy V-8, if not the performance, by having the local exhaust shop install a set of dual exhaust and performance mufflers. Back in 1985, when we had our first set of duals installed on a 1970 Dart, the local shop charged us just over a hundred bucks in parts and labor. These days, it's difficult to find an exhaust shop that does much more than repairing OEM cars or installing giant Honda mufflers, so the days of a local shop installing quality dual exhausts are long gone. Fortunately, Tube Technologies offers Mopar lovers a great alternative to the exhaust shop, allowing us to install quality dual exhaust ourselves.

2/18These days, it's hard to find an exhaust shop that will install a decent set of dual exhaust for a reasonable price. Fortunately, TTI makes installing great quality exhaust on your Mopar an easy job that you can do yourself!

While we can't say that there are no good muffler shops that will install quality duals on your Mopar, we can say that in our experience the average dual exhaust installed by a local exhaust shop has several problems. First, most exhaust shops use standard tube bending equipment which crushes the pipe at the bend, decreasing the pipe's diameter. Though this procedure may not greatly affect the performance of a 318 with a two-barrel, non-mandrel bent pipes simply look ugly, and impede the exhaust flow, causing restriction and thereby decreased power, especially in a performance application.

Next, the local shops we've found usually don't have the proper 2-inch, or 2.5-inch flanges in stock to fit Mopar exhaust manifolds, so they generally just cut the pipe off and reuse the original, rusty, and often bent exhaust flange. The quality of the tubing is also questionable at most local shops as they tend to use inexpensive pipe to maximize profits. Additionally, instead of using proper, well-engineered hangers, the local shops commonly attach the exhaust to the car with self-tapping sheet metal screws right through the car's floor.

3/18There's nothing like a good set of dual exhaust to make your Mopar sound and perform its best. Instead of going to the exhaust shop, we ordered a complete set of dual exhaust from TTI that we can install ourselves.

Fortunately, Tube Technologies, Inc. (TTI) offers a great alternative to the local exhaust shop, allowing us to install quality dual exhaust in the comfort of our own garage, or driveway for that matter. So when it came time to install dual exhaust on the '67 Barracuda we've been working on, we checked out TTI's website, ttiexhaust.com, to see what options they had for our car. What we found was that TTI has 2.5 and 3 inch exhaust kits for virtually every Mopar body style and engine combination, even our big-block A-body, whether equipped with factory manifolds or aftermarket headers. They have both H-pipe and X-pipe systems that are all made from 16 gauge, mandrel bent, aluminized tubing, and all of TTI's kits come with all of the hangers, clamps, and hardware needed to complete the installation, and are available with or without mufflers.

Since our car's engine is a relatively mild 383, we chose TTI's 2.5 inch exhaust system with an H-pipe and Dynomax Super-Turbo mufflers. Although original-style stainless exhaust tips are available from TTI, we opted for the more subtle look of factory appearing turn-downs. When our exhaust system arrived, we were certainly impressed with the quality of the products, as well as the packaging. Each section of our exhaust was individually wrapped in protective material, ensuring nothing was damaged when we got it so all the slip-joints would fit properly. We quickly got to work installing our exhaust system and were impressed with how easily all the parts fit in place. Equally impressive were the muffler hangers that are supported by the rear seatbelt hardware, and the tailpipe hangers that utilize holes already in the factory frame rails.

All-told, our exhaust system installed easily and quickly, even though the Schumacher headers we used for our big-block swap happened to be headers that TTI hadn't developed head pipes for yet. What this meant was that we had to fabricate our head-pipes, which was easy since TTI provided the flanges and plenty of pre-bent tubing. In all, we spent the better part of the day installing our exhaust with our car on the lift, but could have also done the job in the driveway on jack stands if necessary. We were very pleased with the fit and finish of TTI's products, and the Dynomax mufflers give our 383 a nice rumble at idle, but aren't too loud when we're cruising on the highway. Follow along and we'll show you how easy it is to install quality dual exhaust on your Mopar.